Seed-grader



E. A. WATKINS.

SEED GRADER.

APPI ICATION FILED JUNE 12, 1919.

Patented Aug. 10, 1920.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY6 E vars ZZ A E. A. WATKINS.

SEED GRADER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNK-I12, I919.

Patented Aug. 10, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- A INVENTOR. ve/65 A Watfc'lw,

BYV/WMW,

A TTORNEY unrrto STATES EVERETT A. WATKINS,

PATENT OFFICE.

or WICHITA, KANSAS.

SEED-GBADER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EVERETT A. WATKINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wichita, in the county of Sedgwick and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Seed-Graders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention seeks to provide a machine for separating and grading grain and seeds of simple construction which will be highly efiicient in operation. One object of the invention is to provide means for cutting off the flow of air. thr ugh one or more of the upper screens as may be desired and another object of the invention is to provide means for keeping the lower screens clean so that the seeds and grains will be prevented from sticking therein. A still further object of the invention is to provide simple means for transversely vibrating the delivery chute so that the discharge of the cleaned and graded seeds or grains will be 'acilitated.

One embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved machine;

Fig. 2 is a partial end elevation;

Fig. 3 is a detail view of a part of the mechanism for oscillating: the screencarrying shoe and the discharge spout;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the im proved machine;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of a por tion of the upper riddle;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section through one of the lower screens.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a supporting frame 1 which will preferably be constructed of channel or angle bars so as toattain the desired strength and rigidity without unnecessary weight. Upon the upper portion of the frame, I mount a hopper 2 which is provided interiorly with an inclined partition 3 and a slide valve lcooperating with said partition and equipped with a handle 5 projecting through the side wall of the hopper so that the flow from the hopper to the screens may be regulated.

Upon reference more particularly to Fig.

Specification of Letters Patent.

1919. Serial No. 303,604.

1, it will be noted that the upper side rails of the frame are inclined toward the delivery end of the machine and to these inclined si le bars 6 I pivot the hangers 7 which have their lower ends pivoted to the sides of the shoe 8. A vibratory impulse is imparted to the shoe by mechanism which will be presently described and ordinarily this vibratory impulse would reciprocate the shoe in a horizontal plane only but in my machine the arrangement of the.parts is such that, when the shoe is at rest, the hangers will be inclined, as shown in Fig. 1, and wien the machine is in operation the shoe will have a gyratory motion. This gyratory movement accelerates the flow of the grains or seeds over the several screens and thereby expedites the cleaning and grading operations. Moreover, the hangers 7 are preferably resilient and aid in returning the shoe to its normal position after it has been moved from said position by the driving mechanism. The shoe will preferably be constructed of sheet metal so as to attain durability and strength and the up per and lower side edges of the walls converge from the receiving end to the waste delivery end. Brace bars 9 may be secured on the inner surfaces of the sides of the shoe so as to restrain any tendency of the same to buckle and at the top of the shoe is an agitator 10 which may be of any desired construction andprojects upwardly into the hopper 2 and plays between the side wall of the same and the-end of the valve 4t so that the seed or grain will be agitated and prevented from clogging-the exit from the hopper.

In the upper portion of the shoe, I secure in any desired manner a series of riddles or screens 11, 12, 13, 14 and15 which are inclined downwardly, as shown, and are also in stepped relation. The lowermost screen 15 is provided at its lower end with an outwardly extending transverse plate 16 over which the waste material may flow. At the receiving ends of the screens 13 and 141, I provide dampers or valves 17 and 18 which may conveniently be strips of imperforate material of proper dimensions to fit over and close the upper receiving end of Patented .111 10, 1920.

the respective screen and each hinged, as

flexible rod 21 extends between two screens so that it may be easily reached, as indicated at 22, throughthe top or end of the shoe and manipulated to swing the dampers or valves to an open or a closed position as may be desired. It will be readily understood that an air blast is driven longitudinally through the shoe as is usual in machines of this class and by properly adjusting the dampers or valves the blast may be cut off entirely or partially from the screens equipped with the dampers. It is to be understood that one or more of the screens may be equipped with the valves and that the ends of those screens not equipped with the dampers will be permanently closed as at 17. In many operations no blast between the screens is desired and in no'oporation is the blast desired between, all the screens, so that by the described arrangement, I provide a single machine which may be successfully employed for various operations. I

Below the screen 15, I provide two or more finishing screens 23 and 24: which are inclined reversely to the upper screens and are arranged to deliver the graded seed or grain into the delivery spout 25, said spout being disposed transversely within the frame below the shoe and supported by the spring hangers 26 which are secured at their upper ends to the frame and at their lower ends to the sides of the spout. Upon reference to Fig. 4 more particularly, it will be noted that the spout is constructed with a central longitudinal vertical partition 27 having its upper end deflected, as shown at 28, so as to enter between the delivery ends of the screens 23 and 2d and thereby prevent commingling of the two grades into which the material is separated by the screens.

One objection to machines of this class has heretofore been that the grains or seeds would tend to stick in the openings of the screens instead of passlng through them or I working their way to and over the delivery ends thereof, and various expedients have been adopted to overcome this objection. In my apparatus, I provide, at the ends of the screens, supporting rails or plates 29 which are secured to the end bars of the screen frames by bolts and wing nuts 30, or similar devices and project inwardly from said bars. Slidably supported by the said rails or plates, Imount frames 31 consisting of rigidly connected cross bars and of such height that they will tend to bear against the under surface of the reticulated member of the screen. The frames 31 are of somewhat less dimensions than the dimensions of the screens and are each provided at one end with any suitable form of projection to engage a longitudinal slot 32 in the respective screen frame so that the movement of the cleaning frame will be limited. The cleaning frames or rubbers are not secured to the screen frames but are capable of moving freely therein and will move relatively to the respective screen frames under the force of inertia when the machine is in operation, it being understood that when. the machine is at rest thefrubbers or cleaning frames will gravitate to the lowest point permitted by the slots 32 and will, consequently, move upwardly with the respective screens but when the upward movement of the screens is arrested the momentum acquired by the rubbers willcarry them to the opposite ends of the said slots 32. This relative movement of the rubbers or cleaning frames will result in a rubbing engagement between the upper surface of the rubher and the under surface of the screen so that the screen will be'kept open and the seeds or grains which mighttend to clog the screen will be dislodged and'will be caused to travel over their predetermined paths.

Upon the receiving end of the frame, I secure bearings 33 in which is journaled a driving shaft 34 having an eccentric or crank portion 35. Fitted upon the crank or eccentric 35 is a pitman head consisting of mating bearing blocks 36 secured together by bolts 37 so that as the shaft is rotated the pitman head will be caused to follow its movement. This pitman head is connected by pitman rods 38 with one side of the shoe so that the motion of the pitman head will be transmitted directly to the shoe and the desired gyratory motion of the shoe effected. A. pitman hanger 39 is secured to and depends from the pitman head and the lower end of this hanger is engaged by one terminal crank -10 of a rock shaft 41 which is journaled in a suitable bearing upon a cross bar of the frame. Y Theopposite terminal crank 42 of this rock shaft is pivotally engaged in one side of the delivery chute 25 so that when the driving shaft 3% is rotated and the shoe 8 gyrated longitudinally of the frame, the delivery chute or spouts will be vibrated transversely of the frame. The fiooror bottom of the delivery chute is inclined toward the delivery end thereof, as is usual, but it has been found that in actual practice the inclination of the bottom of the chute was not sufficient alone to prevent the cleaned and graded seed accumulating in the chute. I have overcome this difficulty by imparting a reciprocatory motion to the chute so that the seed received therein from the screens will be agitated and, consequently, prevented from accumulating and choking the chute. A fan as is carried by the shaft 34 and a hood or drum 4A is secured over the fan so as to prevent injury to persons near the machine by the revolving fan and also to protect the fan from injury due to flying objects adjacent the apparatus. The driving shaft may be equipped with a crank handle so as to be operated manually or it may be provided with a band pulley or otherwise connected with any convenient motor.

It is thought the operation of my improved machine will be readily understood. The several screens are, of course, provided with graded openings, that is to say, the uppermost screen will have openings of larger area than the subjacent screen and the opening in said subjacent screen will be larger than the openings of the screen in turn below it. The. grain or seeds to be cleaned and graded are fed into the hopper 2 and thence pass onto the upper screen 11 which will permit wheat to pass through to the next lower screen while sticks, straw and other refuse will be carried to the end of the screen and delivered at the end of the machine. Most of the oats will also pass over the end of the screen but some oats will pass through, it being assumed, for the purposes of description, that the machine is used to separate wheat from oats and other seeds and to grade the separated wheat into marketable classes. It will be understood,

, however, that the machine may be used for treating other material and that the openings in the several screens will be of the proper size for treating the particular material fed into the machine. The screens are not permanently secured in the shoe so that a set of screens of the proper mesh may be easily fitted in place whenever the operation of the machine is desired. As a result of passing the material through the several upper screens all the sticks, straw, oats, leaves or other matter will be delivered at the end of the machine while the cleaned wheat will drop onto the lower screen 23. The larger grains of wheat will roll down this screen 23 and be delivered into one side of the discharge chute while the smaller wheat grains will fall upon the screen 24 and be delivered into the opposite side of the delivery chute. If there should be any very small seeds in the material they will pass through the screen 24 and will drop through the space below the same and may, if desired, be caught in a suitable receptacle, it being entirely within the scope of my invention to provide a plate below the screen 24 having an opening at its lower end so that the inferior seeds will be directed into a receptacle placed therebelow.

By opening the dampers or valves 17, a

blast. of air from the fan &3. will be permitted to pass between the sieves equipped with the dampers or valves and this blast of air will act upon the oats and other light material so as to facilitate the movement of the same along" the sieves and carry them quickly to their ultimate destination. The air blast will not interfere with the downward movement of the wheat but will perceptibly diminish the proportion of oats and other material passing through the sieves with the wheat, and by providing these dampers or valves the operator is enabled to regulate the blast so as to meet all conditions of the grain that is being treated, the force of the air blast needed for the best results being determined by the various proportions of the different ingredients of the material. In falling from the upper gang of screens onto the lower screens, the grain is subjected to the action of the air blast which passes out through the space between the screens and carries away any dust and light chaff that may have followed the wheat through the upper screens, and by the lower screens the wheat is graded according to its size as will be readily understood. The delivery spout or chute may feed the material into bags or may deliver it into or onto eonveyers or elevators for transportation to other points. The weight of the grain falling upon the woven wire which is generally employed for the screens 23 and 24 has a tendency to cause the said wire to stretch and sag in places so that an uneven distribution of the grain results. The oscillating rubber or cleaning frame provided below each screen 23 and 24; not only prevents the clogging of the screen but also supports the wire surface so that stretching of the same will be prevented and the life of the apparatus prolonged as well as its efliciency increased. The means employed by me for separating and cleaning the lower screens is superior to those heretofore employed in that it is lighter and more easily operated, while obtaining more effective results with less'frictional wear upon the parts. machine is very durable as all the parts are of metal, except the screen frames, the fan blades, the rubbers, and the bearing blocks at the ends of the pitman.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination of a supporting frame, a shoe mounted within the frame for gyratory movement, a plurality of screens secured within the shoe, means for forcing an air blast through the shoe and the screens, dampers at the receiving ends of the screens, and means operable from the discharge ends of the screens to adjust said dampers and control the flow of air to the screens.

2. In an apparatus for the purpose set The" forth, the combination of a supporting frame, a shoe mounted for gyratory move cranks connected with the hinges of said dampers, and means connected with said cranks and extending to the discharge ends 10 of the screens for operating the dampers.

In testimony whereof I my signature.

EVERETT, A. WATKINS. [1 8. 

